Cxbcuit-bbeakes



I. W. BROEGGER.

CiRCUlT BREAKER.-

APPLICATION FILED APR-I16, 19w.

1,338,971. Patented May 4,1920.

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IVAR W. EROEGGEB, 0F NEWARK, NEVJ' JERSEY, ASSIGNGR T0 SPLITDQRF ELECTRICAL COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

Application filed. April 16, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVAR W. Bnonoonn, a subject of the King of Norway, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for breaking an electrical circuit but particularly adaptable for use in connection with an electrical ignition system for igniting explosive mixtures in internal combustion engines.

In the past a number of circuit breakers have been designed with the object of keeping the movable contact, in its movement, in substantially parallel relationship with the fixed contact. Circuit breakers used on internal combustion engines are exposed to a number of detrimental agents, such as dust and dirt, oil, moisture, etc., and l have found it highly advantageous to get away from the absolute parallel action of the con- H tacts andintroduce a slight wiping action betweenthe contacts so as to overcome the effect of'the above .mentioned detrimental agencies. Theoretically the parallel movement of the circuit breaker contact appears to be the best but practically the slight wiping action produces a better result.

It is the object of my invention to "furnish a structure that will overcome the effect of the said agencies to a great degree at the same time maintaining substantially the hill contact surface of the circuit breaker contacts whose area, however, can be made or any desired amount.

Another object of my invention is to provide a circuit breaker that is capable of breaking the. circuit successfully without any appreciable lag at relatively high rotative s eeds of the engine to which it is attached. 1 any circuit breakers that have been used in thepast tail to'respond at high speeds and the sparks become thin and irregular and finally die out all together before the man imum rotative speed of the engine is reached. 1 have, therefore, made the parts oi my breaker very light yet have arranged them in such a manner as to produce the desired effect so that the structure as a whole will respond to the highest rotative speeds oil the modern high speed internal combustion engme.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1920.

Serial No. 162,479.

Another object of my invention is to provide a circuit breaker that is very simple in its construction and consequently one that will be cheap to manufacture.

Other and further objects will be apparent, to one skilled in the art, after a study of the specification taken in connection with the drawing, wherein Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of my circuit breaker in operative position, the ignition circuit being shown diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the movable contact member shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of contact member in Fig. 1 but with the contact moved abnormally in the direction of operation.

Fig. 4 is a modified form of movable contact member with its support.

Referring now particularly to the (interent views of the drawings, wherein like numbers refer to corresponding parts, 1 illustrates a mounting plate upon which the breaker mechanism is adapted to be mounted. Plate 1 has an arm 2 to which a control lever is adapted to be attached by means of the hole 8. Plate 1 has slots 4i and screws p for holding it in operative position on"the supporting member of the timerdistributer. The distributer itself and the support member are not shown as they form no part of my present invention and are well understood; any suitable support and distributing mechanism may be used. U n the end of the drivingshaft (not shown) is a cam 6. Fastened to the plate 1 by screws 7 is a stationary contact support 8 being in sulated by an insulator 9 from the plate 1. Mounted on the support 8 is a contact screw 10 carrying the contact 11 of platinum, tungsten or other suitable material. Attached to plate 1 by screw 13 is a bracket 12, two dowel pins is. also being used to hold the member 12 in position. The bracket 12 has arms 15 and 16 projectin substantially at right angles from the body portion. astened to the arm 15 as by rivets l? is a resilient member 18, while attached to the arm 16 as by rivets 19 is a resilient member 20. The other end of resilient member 18 is operatively attached to brace member 21. As shown in the drawing rivets 22 serve for this attachment, although an other suitable means may be employed. ember .991 is ribbed at 23 for the purpose of allowin the member 21 to be made light yet rigi One end of member 21 has ears 24. bent around to form a receptacle, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2, and a friction wearing element 25, such as fiber, held between the cars 24 as by means of rivets 26. The friction wearing element 25 is adapted to be engaged by the cam 6 as the cam rotates. The other end of member 21 is fastened to resilient member 20 by means of the contact 27 which has a stem that passes through the members 20 and 21 and is then riveted over. However the contact 27 may be carried wholly on the spring 20 yet I prefer to utilize it for the further purpose 0 riveting the spring .20 and brace 21 together.

In my preferred form I aim to make the distance from the point of support of re silient member 20 on arm 16 to the point of contact of the cam 6 on the wearing element 25 substantially twice the distance from the point of support of resilient member 18 on arm 15 to the wearing element 25, hence the moment of the lever made by the resilient member 20 and brace 21 is considerably different from the moment of the resilient member 18 and these differences are exemplified in the position which the parts take as illustrated in Fig. 3 where it is seen that the member 18 takes a compound bend while member 20 merely takes a bend near the point of support and the contact 27 is at a slight angle with the horizontal. Hence it will be seen that in normal operation a slight rubbing action will be obtained at the contacts, which will overcome, to a large degree, the detrimental agencies before mentioned.

While in my" preferred form the contacts 11 and 27 are arranged on the line A B passing through the point of support of resilient member 18 attached to arm 15 and while I have found this arrangement of parts to produce the desired result the contact 27, however, may be shifted somewhat from either side of the center line A-B by changing the arrangement of parts, as shown in the modified form in Fig. 4. The support arm 15 may be moved to the right until it is over the arm 16, in which case the spring member 18 is twice as long as memable battery one end of which is grounded and the other end is connected to the primary P of an induction coil. The switch C connects the primary to the contact support 8. The support 12 is grounded so the rimary circuit is therefore readily traceable through the parts above mentioned. A condenser Q is shown bridged around the contacts 11 and 27 for the usual purpose. The secondary induction coil S has one end grounded and the other end connected to the center point of the distributer D. A six point distributer is illustrated, the various contacts being shown adapted to be connected to the spark plugs of an internal combustion engine.

While I have shown two forms of my invention I do not wish to be limited to the exact details shown and described as various other changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims. One of such changes being the application of the circuit breaker to a magneto instead of a battery system which application may necessitate changing the relative lengths of the resilient members constituting the movable contacts. Other alternative constructions have previously been referred to.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. A. circuit breaker having movable and relatively stationary members and means for periodically separating the same, said movable member comprising a flexible arm made up of two springs one of said springs carrying a contact on its movable end, the point of support of the other spring being substantially in line with said contact point carried on the movable end of the other spring, and a rigid member connecting the free ends of said springs and carrying a friction wearing piece. I

2. A circuit breaker having movable and relatively stationary members and means for periodically separating the same, said movable member comprising a flexible arm made up of two springs normally extending in the same direction and each rigidly but separately supported at one end, a brace member connecting the free ends of said springs and a contact carried at the junction of one only of said springs and the brace member. the other end of. said brace member adapted to carry a cam engaging member.

3. A circuit breaker having movable and relatively stationary members and means for periodically separating the same, said movable member comprising a flexible arm made up of two normally parallel springs having one end of each fastened to a rigid support, a brace member connecting the free ends of said springs and a contact attached to one of said springs, the arrangement of said springs, spring supports and bracemember being such as to bring the center of gravity of the movable member near a vertical line passing through one of the supports whereby high periodicity of the movable member is obtained.

4. A circuit breaker having movable and relatively stationary members and means for periodically separating the same, said movable member comprising a flexible arm made up of two' springs normally substantially parallel and having one end of each fastened to separate arms of rigid support, a substantially rigid brace member connecting the free ends of said springs and carrying a cam engaging member at one end, the other end thereof being fastened to the free end of only one of said springs by means of an electrical contact;

5. A circuit breaker having a support member with two support arms extending substantially parallel therefrom, a spring attached to each support arm, a brace member connecting the free ends of said springs and means for periodically moving the brace member, a contact carried on one of said springs, a second contact relatively fixed as to the first andadapted to coiiperate therewith, said springs and brace being so formed and coiiperating to produce a wiping action at said contacts when said brace member is moved.

6. A circuit breaker having a support member with two support arms extending therefrom one above and in advance of the other, a spring attached to each support arm, a brace member connecting the free ends of said springs and means for periodically moving the brace member, a contact mounted at the junction of the lower spring and brace member, and a second contact relatively fixed as to the first and adapted to cooperate therewith.

7. A circuit breaker having a movable membercomprising a support member with two support arms extending therefrom, a spring attached-to each of said arms and extending in the same direction therefrom, a brace joining the free ends of said springs, a contact carried on one spring at its junction with the brace, the opposite end of said brace'having ears adapted to be bent to form a receptacle and a cam engaging piece mounted in said-receptacle.

8. A movable contact for electrical circuit breakers comprising a fixed support, a brace member anda flexible arm made up of two straight normally parallel springs one above the other, one end of each of said springs being held to said fixed support but laterally displaced thereon, the other end of each of said springs being joined to opposite ends of said brace member and a contact carried by the lower springat its junction with the said brace member.

9. A movable contact for electrical circuit breakers comprising a fixed support, a brace member and a flexible arm made up of two straight springs one above the other, one end of each of said springs being held to said fixed support, the other end of each of said springs being joined to opposite ends of said brace member and a contact carried by the lower spring near a vertical line passing through the fixed support of the other spring.

10. A movable contact for electrical circuit breakers comprisin fixed support arms,

a brace member and a exible arm made up of two straight springs one above the other,

one end of each spring being held to said fixed support arms arranged in staggered relation, the free end of the upper spring being attached to one end of said brace member, the free end of the lower s ring being attached to the opposite end 0 said brace member and a contact carried on the lower spring nearer a vertical line passing through the point of support of the upper spring than it is the fixed end of the lower spring or outer end of said brace member.

, 11. A circuit breaker for an electrical circuit comprising a support, a contact mounted on said support, a relatively movable co-acting contact terminal means for periodically separating said contact terminals, and means comprising a plurality of superposed and separated members rigidly fastened to said support at one end, and fastened together and carrying the movable contact nearer a vertical line through the point of support of one of said superposed members than it is the end of said superposed member, whereby the contact surface of the movable terminal is caused to produce a slight wiping action with the relatively fixed contact.

12.- A circuit breaker for an electrical circuit comprising a support, a contact mounted on said support, a relatively movable coacting contact terminal means for periodically separating said contact terminals, and

' means comprising a plurality of superposed and separated fiat springs rigidly fastened to said support at one end, and fastened together and carrying the movable contact near the other end of one spring but removed from the other end of another spring, whereby the contact surface of the movable terminal is guided in a circuit breaking movement out of parallel translation.

13. A circuit breaker for an electrical circuit comprising a support, a contact mounted on said support, a relatively movable co-acting contact terminal means for periodically separating said contact terminals, and means comprising a plurality of superposed and separated members rigidly fastened to said support at one end, and fastened together and carrying the movable contact substantially in line with the point -1 m s tin of support of one of said superposed members, whereby the periodicity of the movable terminal may be increased.

14. 'A circuit having movable and relatively stationary members and means for periodically separating the same, means for obtaining maximum periodicity of the movable member comprising a flexible arm made up of two thin substantially parallel fiat detection in Letters Patent No. 1,338,971.

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springs each rigidly supported at one end 10 therigid supports and the movable contact 15 on the movable member.

In Witness whereof I aflix my signature.

IVAR W. BROEGGER.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,338,971, granted May 4, 1920,

upon the application of Ivar W. Broegger, of Newark, New Jersey, for an improvement in Circuit-Breakers, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 4, line 4, claim 14, after the word circuit insert the word breaker; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform -to. the record of the case in the Patent Office.

feigned and sealed this 20th day of July, A. 1). i920.

. Wi-HTEHEAD.

Commisstmer of Patents. 

